United Way of Bemidji Partners with Bar 209 for Annual Thanksgiving Program

Every year for the last eight years, Bar 209 in Bemidji has partnered with the United Way to help bring Thanksgiving meals to families in the area who need it most. Prep work was done earlier this week to make sure the food was ready in time for the holiday.

Brett and Derek Leach, the owners of Bar 209 in Bemidji, understood that not everyone has the privilege of having a Thanksgiving meal when the holiday rolls around and decided to prepare food for those in need. After that first year, Bar 209 started partnering with United Way of Bemidji Area to help distribute 800 meals to 100 families who need it the most in the area.

“We just knew the community had some needs and we have the ability to do it,” said Derek. “This is the time of year where a lot of our residents move to Arizona or they’re in the woods hunting. So we have a little extra time, too, and took advantage of that and provided for our community.”

“The families are chosen by our partner agencies; they nominate families who could use this meal this year,” explained Denae Alamano, Executive Director of United Way of Bemidji, “And then on Thanksgiving morning, different families from the area actually deliver the meals directly to those families so they can enjoy their Thanksgiving together.”

Those receiving one of these meals aren’t going to miss out on any of the Thanksgiving classics.

“We’ve got the great Thanksgiving dinner: mashed potatoes, stuffing, we’ve got a couple of pies, bread, gravy, green beans, casserole, and carrots, did I get everything? Cranberry sauce, no!” said Brett.

“Oh, you forgot the cranberries. The stuff we don’t like, we always forget,” joked Derek.

Lueken’s Village Foods provided all the ingredients for the meals, while Stittsworth Meats smoked all the turkeys to ensure that each of the meals still feel like they were homemade.

“Everything started from scratch, everything from smoking our birds with Stittsworth Meats to chopping every piece of celery, every carrot, making stuffing – all the way through, it’s pretty awesome,” Derek said.

“We knew that there was a huge need in the community and we’re able to offer this and do it at such a large scale, too,” added Brett. “When you see this done, when it’s 500 pounds of potatoes that are going out, it’s pretty cool to see all of it put together, and you’re like, ‘Wow, this is extensive.”

800 meals for those in need is a large number, but that’s not gonna stop Brett and Derek from trying to do more in the future.

“It means we need to get it to a thousand,” added Derek.